Thursday, July 29, 2010

National Right to Life: New Obama Regulation Proves Health Care Reform Law Doesn't Prevent Abortion Funding

National Right to Life Committee has issued a press release describing a new regulation imposed on states' federally subsidized high risk insurance pools. This regulation prevents abortion funding in one of the numerous new programs created by the health care reform law. Only after National Right to Life showed that some states were planning on covering abortion in these insurance pools, did the Obama administration make this regulation. While making the regulation, an Obama administration official also noted that this policy won't necessarily be applied to other health care programs.

"Without blinking, the Obama Administration had approved high-risk pool plans submitted by at least three states that would have funded virtually all abortions – until NRLC raised the alarms starting on July 13," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "In the regulation issued today, the Administration tells states that elective abortions may not be covered in the high-risk pool program – but simultaneously, the head of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, issued a statement on the White House blog explaining that this decision 'is not a precedent for other programs or policies given the unique, temporary nature of the program . . .'"

"This entire episode demonstrates what National Right to Life said in March – there is no language in the new health care law, and no language in Obama's politically contrived March 24 executive order, that effectively prevents federal subsidies for abortion on demand," Johnson said. "This means that unless Congress repeals the health care law or performs major corrective surgery on it, there will be years of battles, as each new program is implemented, over how elective abortion will be covered – and the White House is suggesting that today's policy will not necessarily be applied when implementing the other programs, some of which will cover far larger populations."